Back in 2010, there was an issue ad showing a “Chinese professor” in the year 2030 lecturing his students about America’s collapse. “Why do great nations fail?” he asked. “The ancient Greeks, the Rome Empire, the British Empire, the United States … read more
So a Chinese firm is buying the Waldorf Astoria in Manhattan. This is being taken by some as another sign of China’s wealth, prominence on the global stage, rise at the expense of the US, and so on. It may be closer to the opposite: a sign that opportunities within China have already faded. read more
A recent National Bureau of Economic Research working paper that we co-authored on the quality of Indian medicines exported to Africa has drawn surprising over-reaction from the Indian government and pharmaceutical industry. In a recent article in the Economic Times, officials said that India’s government is planning a defamation suit against our research team for running a “smear campaign” against the industry. The government’s threat of legal action is a shocking development, and if it proceeds, will hurt India more than it will hurt us. read more
No sooner does a united Europe dodge a Scottish bullet than it is forced to deal with a more serious Catalonian bullet. If Artur Mas, the president of the Catalan, government has his way, on November 9 in one way or another Catalonia will have a non-binding vote on the question of its independence from Spain. read more
